Sunday, 29 November 2020
2008 Mumbai Attacks : Maritime Route or By Air?
The details concerning acts of terror inside the city does not need further elaboration or critique, there are numerious eye-witness accounts. The main area of investigation is journey or mode of journey of attackers from outside India till Mumbai, assuming an act by infiltrators. The official version of events is that attackers took a maritime route from Pakistani shores near Karachi to Mumbai, a distance of around 900 km.
With average boat speed of 30 km/h, the travel duration turns out to be 30 hours minimum. With no refueling en route, a fishing boat (captured one) is not expected to run or go for 30 hours. Ajmal Kasab's account mentions departure from Pakistan on 23rd November and reaching target on 26 Nov, showing unnecessary time wasted and not ideal for a perfectly-planned attack when only one day+night and six hours are needed for a journey without stops.
Further inaccuracies arise from Kasab's statement about the time of crossing into Indian waters. Major part of journey should have taken place (no choice) in Indian waters, minimum travel time is around 23 hours for a distance of around 700 km till Mumbai.
Journey overland with weapons and other items is highly unlikey given the long journey and distance. This only leaves one option, assuming that attackers were foreign intruders, and that is by air. For ten people, two Cessna 172 aircrafts are enough. Their range figures match the needed distance to be covered. With floats attached, these aircrafts can land over water.
Two aircraft possibility is strengthened by the fact that attacks took place on two (eastern and western) shores of the Mumbai peninsula. Taj Mahal Hotel being situated on the eastern shore, one aircraft landed there and other on the western shore. Where did these aircrafts go? Most likely an official cover-up. It is automatically assumed that pilots were among attackers and that low-level flying was used to avoid or delay detection by radars as much as possible. The use of other electronic identification (Transponders) manipulations also cant be discarded.
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